My Blackbird story..

After over 2 years of ownership i thought i'd put up a little bit about my experiences.

It all started with an impulse buy of a 2001 Bird from Ebay. I knew nowt about them and have always been a sports bike rider. My girlfriend wanted to ride on the back but the Ninja was a big no no, so i thought i would go down the Bird route.

Below is the original advert pic showing the 2001 Bird. (which turned out to be an XXV Carb model!) And immaculate meant mismatched tyres, fasteners like toffee and rotten collector box. Damn Ebay apps which allow you to bid in the pub. :bang: However all's well that ends well! :-0)

I'll be updating this to show the current state of the Bike and hopefully the soon to be finished mods!

Chapter 2

Well when i picked her up it was a freezing cold November night and i could instantly see this was a totally different bike to the ones i had been used to. Not bad, just different. Lots of go and much slower handling than i was used to, i didn't like the brake feel although they seemed to work OK at reasonable speeds.

First impressions out of 10.

Performance 8 - 10
Handling 6 - 10
Brakes 5 - 10
Condition 5 - 10
Comfort 7 - 10
Looks 7 - 10

Upon closer inspection there were a few things i wanted to change right away.

The brake lines (original rubbery spongy things) were in a poor state and also rusty.

So i changed the lines for a delink kit from Jaws and also added a 6mm shim under the rear shock to quicken the steering up a litte. This was an interim measure as the front was quite soft and rear shock had little in the way of damping which all meant there was lots of weight transfer going on when accelerating and braking.

Now i realise that this is after all an old design and not a sports bike but with a bit of tweaking and time i thought there was a lot more to be had. (and thought rightly)

With new brake lines and delinked, plus rear shim the scores on the doors are now...

Performance 8 - 10
Handling 7 - 10
Brakes 7 - 10
Condition 5 - 10
Comfort 7 - 10
Looks 7 - 10

Next to come was an exhaust and new fasteners all round. This will be chapter 3 if anyone is following!

Go on......p0pc0rn41

What he said

Next thing was this kit from Probolt in Stainless http://www.tastynuts.com/Products/CBR1100_XX_Blackbird_97_00_Fairing_Bolt_Kit_Excluding_Screen

I also replaced the disc bolts front and rear and pad retaining pins and grub screws with Titanium. Came to a few quid but looked a lot better than the rotten original fasteners.

Then i ditched the rotten collector box and downpipes in favour of a 4-1 system in order to save some weight. My original plan was to go down the Akrapovic route but due to the exchange rates and being unlucky the system went up by over ?150 on the day before i ordered it so i go a Quill Evo 2 Titanium system. The whole lot weighs less than one original silencer. The looks of a 4-1 i realise are personal taste, but i like it.

The blurb says that no rejetting etc is required. Erm, i beg to differ (see later chapter)





Here are some pics of the pipe fitted.

p0pc0rn41p0pc0rn41p0pc0rn41 voltage monitor... @tu*

...........................

Update

Rick,

Bike in the picture looks a lot better than when I bought your old cans. It in small bits as I remember it !

Good write up, keep going... P.

Arrrrrr the small bits. well that saga comes a little later. It's suspension next.

Just wandering to myself...............As you bought the bike off of fleabay wen you had had a drink :-0) Why is the reason for no stickers on the fairing panels?
Is it something that you have done yourself, and removed them, or did it come like that? if so..does that mean the fairing panels have been replaced after it's been down the road after an off or summat :bang:


Looking really nice though :bow: keep updating us with the progress d34l

Now for the suspension!

My standard set up was way too soft more my liking, the dive and weight transfer made things a little interesting when braking deep into a corner and on acceleration the lack of front damping made the bike run wide.

Solution. Front end rebuild / Revalve and new 1kg/mm springs from Gareth at http://www.reactivesuspension.com/ this vastly improved front end control and added more damping accross the board.

Rear pogo stick shock replaced with a 2 way adjustable Penske item. This was sprung for my weight and ride height adjusted to add 7mm, i also dropped the front 2mm in the yokes. I now have a quick steering machine which is much much better than my standard setup. It may not suit all riders but it is far better for my tastes.

Handling now 9 - 10

Where did you get your exhaust from ?

Put Quill exhausts in google.

I'd call them to discuss price as I got mine cheaper than the web price.

The next part is where things went a little wrong!

On a 200 mile journey at night the speedo needle suddenly began dropping to zero then flickering then eventually the lights dimmed but luckily i made it home. I guessed that i had encountered the dreaded charging system failure syndrome. Upon investigation my system was showing a small charge but not the amount needed to work properly.

To cut a VERY long story short here were the steps i took to solve the problem.

Replaced REG/REC... no change

Replaced Generator... no change

Checked out all the wiring and resoldered joints and cleaned evrything up... erm, no change.

Bought second hand wiring loom... never got around to fitting this as i had a eureka moment when i replaced the starter solenoid... success!!

I then bought a voltage monitoring LED from ebay which lights up various colours to show the state of the charging system.

This whole saga asted a number of months and i am now back in love with my bike so i will move back onto performance enhancing mods again next time...









Many thanks to Jaws and all the people at BIRD for their support and help in stopping me going totally insane!

Ah! Bloody starter solenoid! I had some very strange electronic behaviour going on with my old ST1100. New starter solenoid (after lots of investigation) cured it.

After all that grief the next job was to sort out the flat spot low down the revs. I took the bike to Chris Gunsters for a Dyno run and it was running very rich low down. A dynojet kit was recommended and duly fitted. The difference in urgency low down was amazing. I have also fitted a Factory pro 4 degree ignition advancer but haven't yet had a chance to test if that has improved anything.

Before and after dyno graphs. (before blue after red! )






Next chapter will involve the fitting of these little beauties!! But may be a few weeks as i am awaiting parts.

Hopefuly once they are all fitted they will look like these (but not black forks)

I have said on more than one occasion that 4-1 pipes on a bird look totally crap. After seeing the pic of yours, I'm retracting this statement, I was wrong, it looks brilliant @tu*
well done, keep the pix coming

Keep it up, Rick448...definitely shortlisting this as the best thread of 2011...@tu*@tu*@tu*

Thanks guys. Whilst i await the other bits here is a rear 3/4 view.

Great write-up. It'll be nice when its finnished ! lol